Ammo Dump Blast Injures 50 GIs, 6 Britons in Kuwait

An explosion Thursday ripped through a U.S. ammunition depot in Kuwait, showering soldiers with shells and shrapnel and engulfing vehicles in flames. At least 50 U.S. troops and six British troops were injured, officials said.

“It was raining metal,” said Specialist Mark Alexander, 23, a firefighter from Norwich, Conn..

The chain-reaction blasts at the Blackhorse Camp in Doha apparently began with an electrical fire on a truck carrying howitzer shells, military officials said. The U.S. Embassy ruled out sabotage.

The ammunition, stored on pallets in a large open-air compound, included tank and artillery rounds and bullets, officers said. The depot is near a British mess hall, which was empty during the 11 a.m. blast.

Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla., said at least 50 U.S. soldiers were hurt, with injuries ranging from minor cuts to serious shrapnel wounds.

Doctors at Sabah Hospital said one U.S. soldier suffered serious brain damage after shrapnel shattered his skull. He was not expected to live. Three others underwent surgery for shrapnel wounds.

Six British soldiers, from the 2nd Royal Battalion Anglian at the St. George’s Lines camp nearby, were slightly injured, said a Ministry of Defense spokesman in London. A military spokesman in Ottawa said one Canadian soldier was slightly injured.

A Pentagon source said preliminary reports indicated that 14 of the U.S. military’s top-of-the-line battle tanks, M1-A1s, were damaged or destroyed. Another 35 to 40 military vehicles were damaged, the military said.

“We’ve lost more tanks today than we did in the whole (Persian Gulf) war,” said a source.